The LPGA Tour begins its 2011 season

Tomorrow, or Wednesday night United States time, The United States based Women’s Professional Golf organization will begin playing its first event of the year.

Some Predictions

Major Champions- Choi, Pettersen, Wie, IK Kim
Player of the Year- Choi
Rookie of the Year- Jennifer Song
Comeback Player of the Year- Eun Hee Ji
Song Hee Kim will win her first LPGA tournament

Under the fold are my top 30 players for this year. Mostly Harmless has a round up of other prognostications from LPGA followers.

Emory Bellard, creator of wishbone offense, dead at 83

The Wishbone, along with the I formation, were forms of offensive setup when I first started watching college football in the late 1970′s. Alabama won several national championships using the wishbone. Oklahoma ran it to perfection also. I remember how Florida State couldn’t stop the Sooners offense led by JC Watts and Billy Sims in the 1980 Orange Bowl. The Sooners grinding down FSU on the way to a 24-7 win. Sometime in the 80′s the amount of the schools that used the wishbone began to decline. The only two Division I schools I know that use it today are Army and Air Force.

I don’t remember Bellard any where near as well as the offense he created. He left a mark on College Football history. RIP.

Emory Bellard, a former Texas A&M and Mississippi State coach credited with developing the wishbone offense when he was an assistant at Texas, has died. He was 83.

Cathy Capps, director of the Texas A&M Lettermen’s Association, said Bellard died early Thursday at a care facility in Georgetown in Central Texas. She said Bellard had Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Bellard was on Darrell Royal’s staff at Texas in 1968 when the Longhorns developed a multiple running back formation that came to be known as the wishbone.

Bellard later led the Aggies to a 48-27 record in seven years before resigning during the 1978 season. He was 37-42 in seven seasons at Mississippi State.

NHL Referees beat Florida Panthers 3-2

The definitive proof of what I say is up above. Would you believe four game officials ruled that as not a goal?

Watch the video, particularly at the 2:25 point where Atlanta’s Goalie plucks the puck out of the net with the rules officials around. Were there four blind mice wearing stripes last night in Sunrise?

The NHL has a review system in place when a goal or non-goal was questionable. It was never used last night. Why? This Panther blogger wonders openly if the NHL has two sets of rules and Florida is on being judged by the bum set. There is a mounting pile of evidence from this season’s games that says just that. The kick in Edmonton to open the season, the tackling of Panther Goalie Scott Clemmensen by a Toronto player and the NHL rules official clearly said the referees that night blew it, and then this. Florida lost 15 games this year to other teams, and had three more games taken from them by scandalous rulings on ice. What the hell is going to be the NHL’s excuse this time?

Devil of a time- Minnesota beats New Jersey 2-1

Nothing is bouncing well for the NHL’s worst hockey team.

When Clayton Stoner drew up the first goal of his NHL career as a kid, it probably didn’t look anything like the game-winner he scored against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. From NHL.com-

Out of gas at the end of a shift early in the third period, the rookie defenseman of the Minnesota Wild dumped the puck into the zone and turned toward the bench. Stoner never saw the puck hit the stick of Ilya Kovalchuk, ricochet off the glass and carom into a vacated net.

The goal turned out to be the difference in the Wild’s 2-1 victory at Prudential Center.

“I was thinking about burning the tape and telling a different story a few years from now,” the 25-year-old said. “It was a lucky goal. It was one of those ones that sometimes you need that lucky goal just to win a hockey game. We needed those two points. That’s pretty huge.”

Here’s the goal.

Ilya Kovalchuck scored his 12th goal of the season last night. That would tie him for the team lead on the Florida Panthers. All that goal production for 6-7 million dollars a year.

NFL fines Jets $100,000 for tripping incident

When the play happened, no flag was thrown by the referees. From ESPN-

The NFL fined the New York Jets $100,000 in the wake of discoveries involving strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi, who instructed inactive players to stand in a wall in a prohibited area on the sideline to deter opposing teams’ players during special-teams plays.

“This is both a competitive violation as well as a dangerous tactic,” read the NFL statement to announce the fine.

The issue came to light when Alosi was caught on camera putting his knee forward as Miami gunner Nolan Carroll ran toward the Jets sideline and was tripped. Carroll was not injured. Alosi was suspended until the end of the season by the Jets for the trip.

On video replays of the moments before Alosi’s knee made contact with Carroll, it was apparent the Jets players were standing very close together. Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said Alosi hadn’t been fully truthful initially, and when the Jets learned he had instructed players to stand that way, they suspended him indefinitely.

“We will comply with the league’s decision,” said a Jets spokesperson.

Both Jets coach Rex Ryan and special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff said they were unaware of the tactic.

Ryan and Westhoff knew what was going on. Alosi was thrown under the bus by the Jets. Not that Alosi didn’t deserve it. The Jets were equally deserving of today’s punishment.

Just for amusement sake, I put the video of the infamous 1954 Cotton Bowl play where a Alabama play came off the sideline and tackled a Rice player. The first showing of the play comes at the :45 mark of the video.

New Jersey Devils fire coach John MacLean

His replacement, Jacques Lemaire, was Devils coach immediately before MacLean. From AP-

Jacques Lemaire, who led the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup in 1994-95, is returning for his third coaching stint with the team, replacing John MacLean.

Lemaire told ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun Thursday that Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello called to offer him the job Wednesday.

Lemaire was on his way to Newark, and plans to be behind the bench Thursday night for the Devils’ game against the New York Islanders.

The Devils are 9-22-2 and tied with the Islanders for last place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points. They have lost three straight.

Here’s a list of problems New Jersey has at this moment

They signed Ilya Kovalchuk to a 15-year contract where he makes around 6 million a year. With the salary cap, this restricts the team’s personnel options.
What has all that money bought? Kovalchuk has exactly 8 goals and 10 assists and a -32 rating. Mike Santorelli of Florida has 9 goals. Mike who gets paid about one sixth what Kovalchuk does.
Perennial Vezina winner/contender Martin Brodeur is having his worst year in net with a save pct. under .900
Brodeur has been injured, so has Zach Parise, the team’s captain.
The team has scored just 59 goals this season.

New Jersey is a terrible point at this point. Firing the coach was easy, making the team turn itself around is going to be tough and it won’t happen this year. Lemaire has agreed to coach the Devils just to the end of this season. So what does MacLean’s firing accomplish?

Waffle throwing fan banned from Toronto Maple Leaf games

Were they with or without syrup?

A frustrated Toronto Maple Leafs fan who threw waffles on the ice at the Air Canada Centre will have to admire his team from afar.

Joseph Robb was charged with criminal mischief and barred from the arena for throwing waffles on the ice at a Maple Leafs game to protest the team’s performance this season. The 12-17-4 Leafs were 28th out of the NHL’s 30 teams entering Wednesday’s games.

Robb, of Oakville, Ontario, says he’s “just a normal Leafs fan, I love them to death.”

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment vice president Bob Hunter says Robb’s actions during Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers were inappropriate.- Associated Press

The waffles in question were uncooked Eggos, but we don’t know what flavor. No syrup was found on the offending waffles.

Robb has been banned from other sporting events because of his unruly behavior. He’s an out of control jerk, IMHO. Normal fans don’t throw uncooked food on the ice and disrupt games.

Florida Gator Coach Urban Meyer to step down

He did the same thing a year ago but came back for the 2010 NCAA Football season. From ESPN-

Urban Meyer is stepping down as football coach at Florida, the school’s athletic director announced Wednesday.

“I fully grasp the sacrifices my 24/7 profession has demanded of me, and I know it is time to put my focus on my family and life away from the field,” Meyer said.

“I will profoundly miss coming to campus every day to coach this team, but I will always be a Gator at heart,” he said.

A news conference was scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Meyer will coach his last game for Florida in the Outback Bowl against Penn State on January 1st in Tampa.

The Gators, who won two national championships and two Southeastern Conference titles under Meyer, had a disappointing season in 2010, going 7-5 (4-4 SEC).

Meyer has been a three-time national coach of the year. 2010 was a frustrating year for Meyer(as it was for almost all of Florida college football). I suspect Meyer is real this time around in quitting but I expect him to return some day.

Hat Trick- Florida Panthers NHL Team fails to live up to free Yarmulke Promise

Oi Vei

SUNRISE, Fla. – Sunrise Sports & Entertainment announced today that the Florida Panthers Hanukkah Celebration presented by The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 7 during the Cats-Avalanche game at the BankAtlantic Center. Prime Time Stubs, Inc. is an associate sponsor for the event.

Fans are encouraged to join the biggest Hanukkah party in South Florida through a number of initiatives including:

- A giant menorah lighting on the JetBlue Tarmac at 6:45 p.m.

- Jewish music provided by Avimagic Entertainment

- Kosher food available throughout the game in select locations

- Panthers yarmulke given to all ticket-buyers

The Panther website clearly says all ticket-buyers. Fans arrived for tonight’s game and were told it only applied to group ticket buyers. I got wind of it at The Litter Box where one commenter let everyone know. George Richards of the Miami Herald has also confirmed it in his live feed of the game.

The Panthers don’t have a very good rep in South Florida and this sure isn’t going to help it. It is Hanukkah after all and this region has one of the biggest Jewish populations in the nation.

On a side note this particular Panther game isn’t supposed to be broadcast because it is NHL night on Versus. They have exclusive rights on these nights. Well, I’m watching a video feed with Florida Panther radio announcers doing the audio. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is in Sunrise tonight. Maybe he would be interested in knowing all of tonight’s screwups but he’s a screwup himself so I bet he’d shrug it off.